Computer systems are becoming valuable tools in the management and tracking of assets, particularly the ability to locate assets with a defined area. “Location-aware” applications, which are enabled by position-determination systems, can track employees, vehicles, or other objects within a defined space. These location aware systems are becoming more common both within business enterprises and, to some extent, among individual consumers as well.
Location aware systems may track the location of persons or assets using a variety of methods and devices. For example, active or passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, Ultra Wideband tags, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) beacons, and Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled mobile phones, are among the devices that enable computation of an object's location through the analysis of radio frequency waves or similar mechanisms.
In location aware systems, it is often desirable to map out certain areas or “zones” for monitoring object locations. For example, in a safety monitoring application, a certain region of a chemical processing plant might be designated as a “hazardous zone,” within which employees' locations are tracked for safety. Further, in some applications it may be desirable to designate a “privacy zone” within which persons or assets are not tracked, for reasons of personal privacy. Designation of a “security zone,” such as an area near the exit of a facility, may assist in the retention of company assets. If a monitored asset, such as company projector or printer, enters the security zone, a notification alerts security personnel to the presence of the asset in the security zone. In another possible application, if a stock exchange, for example, requires that all trades in a given stock occur within a certain distance of a trading station, a “virtual zone” may be defined around the station, and the location of traders tracked over time relative to the zone. While these capabilities exist, defining the zones in location aware systems is a time consuming manual process, and thus often error-prone,
One approach to defining a tracking zone is to measure the physical space of the zone. In this approach, someone must physically measure the zone boundaries, for example with a tape measure. Next, the user must convert these measurements into the coordinate system used by the location aware system. This is done, for example, by establishing one corner of a building as the origin of the coordinate system, with X and Y axes parallel to the sides of the building. The physical measurements are then entered into the location aware application, which can then detect objects within the defined zone, and perform the designated actions when a tracked item enters or leaves the zone.
A second approach is to start with a graphical computer display of a floor plan or map of the desired tracking zone. Using conventional computer-aided drawing tools, the zone of interest can be traced out on the computer screen. These measurements are then associated with the real-world coordinate system, and stored within the location aware system, where they may be used in the same way as physical measurements from the first approach.
Both these approaches are labor-intensive. It is especially difficult to be accurate in taking the measurements when the zones are in open areas devoid of walls or other barriers. Measurement or drawing errors are easy to make, hard to detect, and hard to correct.
The difficulty and likelihood of error increases for three-dimensional (3D) zones. Physically measuring the space and drawing it on a computer screen can be difficult.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the labor intensive and error-prone process of defining zones for location aware systems. Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a visualization application capable of automatically and dynamically establishing the boundaries of an object within an automatically and dynamically defined zone.